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Questions he said were dangerous beyond my years and told me never to repeat, not to Siwang and certainly not to anyone who might relay them to the emperor.

Fate chose you as the future empress of the Warring States,he’d whispered.Your destiny was appointed by the gods themselves. Mortals cannot defy the will of the gods, Fei. If you try to outrun the path the gods have blessed you with, you will risk their love turning into wrath.

If this wasmylife,mybody, shouldn’tIget a say in what happened to it, and how I wanted to live?

Why should gods and emperors be the ones to decidemyfate?

Why should my voice sound the quietest in this crowded room of men, set on dictating every aspect of my existence?

Who gave them the right?

My hundreds of questions boiled and fumed like tiny sparks hungry to be set ablaze.

5

“Are you not going to praise me?” Siwang whispered when he came by my stall after we arrived back at the stables.

“For what? For tolerating someone else killing the first stag of the season?” I replied, making sure to be quiet so the other riders couldn’t hear us. “It’s not easy, being raised so far from his family and home.”

Siwang’s eyes softened. He knew my scars better than anyone.

His hand brushed my back, pulled me to him for a small hug. “When we are married, I will ask my father to let your family visit my palace anytime they want.”

Hispalace.

Siwang’s eyes gleamed as he said this, as if expecting my gratitude. He meant well, but he was still a prince.

I forced a smile, didn’t tell him that I shouldn’t have to ask for his permission in order to see my family. This was the way of men. As daughters, we were the property of our fathers. As wives, we were theproperty of our husbands. And one day, if we ever outlived our husbands, we would become the property of our sons.

Whether empress or peasant, we women were never our own.

“Look at the lovebirds,” a young man with short-cropped hair and a scar across his right cheek said, laughing. An heir from one of our tribute states, someone insignificant because I didn’t know his name. “How much longer are you making him wait, empress of all empresses? Weren’t the two of you supposed to get married last year?”

Siwang positioned his body in front of me and gave what must have been a scowl, because the young man quickly bowed his head and murmured, “Apologies, Your Highness.”

A motion of Siwang’s head. The onlookers around the stable quickly disappeared.

He turned toward me. “Don’t listen to them.”

Another forced smile from me. “He’s not the only one asking when we will get married. We are not children anymore, and will turn eighteen when the year ends.”

The emperor would set a date for our wedding sooner or later. He was simply waiting for an auspicious occasion. If Siwang impressed the court by killing a Beiying tiger two years in a row, it would be the perfect opportunity to officially offer me to him like a prize.

“We will get married whenyouwant us to get married.”

“Not when your father wants us to be married?”

“I will handle him.” Siwang’s hand brushed my cheek, as if to reassure me.

Siwang had kept his promise and delayed our wedding year by year, waiting until I was ready. His father, however, was not so patient. The emperor wanted his son to claim the continent, and he wanted the prophecy to be sealed. Every day that I was not wed, our power-hungryneighbors eyed me and my prophecy as something that could be stolen.

A cold draft swept in through the stable doors, bringing with it a gusting of snow. “I have to go,” I said. “I need to get changed before the feast tonight.”

“I will walk you back to your tent.”

“No. It’s fine. I think I need some quiet after the chaos of today.”

If Siwang was hurt by this, he didn’t let it show. He nodded and stepped aside so I could leave the stall.